FIRES AND THEIR CAUSES. 655 



curred. The various close stoves which were introduced to public no- 

 tice at the time when the price of coal was suddenly doubled, although 

 no doubt economical, are not so safe as the old form of kitchen range, 

 which many a careful housewife has likened to a cavern. The whole of 

 the air which rises through the flue of a closed stove actually passes 

 through the fire, and thus attains a very exalted temperature. In the 

 old stoves, on the other hand, the hot air is always largely diluted with 

 that which is attracted to the chimney from all quarters. It is evident, 

 therefore, that the chances of fire in the flue of the former are much 

 greater than in that of the latter. 



Theatres may be said to combine within their walls all the risks 

 which we have as yet alluded to, for they represent factories where 

 work of a most diversified kind is carried on, and where both open and 

 closed fires are in constant use. At pantomime time especially, the 

 number of persons employed in the various workshops of large theatre 

 is to the uninitiated quite marvelous. Carpenters and "property-men" 

 (those clever workmen who can make everything from a bunch of car- 

 rots to a parish pump) represent a constant source of danger from fire, 

 in that they deal with inflammable material, and require the aid of heat 

 for their size and glue. It is obviously important in a little kingdom 

 where all is make-believe — where the most solid masonry is wood and 

 canvas, where the greenest trees are dry as tinder, where even limpid 

 streams are flimsy muslin, nay, where the moon itself is but a piece of 

 oiled calico — that there should be no mistake about the reality of the 

 precautions against accidental fire. In most theatres, rules are in force 

 of the most stringent character, extending even to such details as clear- 

 ing so many times a day the accumulated shavings from the carpenter's 

 ^hops. If such a sensible law were enforced in other places besides 

 theatres, it would be a preventive measure of very great value. 



Shavings are perhaps the most dangerously inflammable things to 

 be found about a building. A block of wood is a difficult thing to set 

 on fire ; but, when reduced to the form of shavings, a mere spark will turn 

 it into a roaring fire. The same thing may be said in a minor degree of 

 a lump of iron, which when reduced to filings can be burned in the flame 

 of a common candle. It is often this difi'erence of bulk which will 

 decide whether a material is practically inflammable or not. Paper af- 

 fords another example of the same principle : tied tightly in bundles 

 it may smolder, while in loose sheets its inflammability is evident. 



It is stated upon good authority that in one third of the number of 

 fires which occur the cause is not ascertained. The plan long ago 

 adopted in New York, and which has led to a sensible diminution in the 

 number of fires there, has not, for some reason, found favor with the 

 authorities in this country. We allude to the custom of convening a 

 coroner's court to inquire into the origin of every fire which takes 

 place. There is little doubt that such inquiries would educate thought- 

 ful householders into taking precautions which might not otherwise 



